


One Man Show

by pocketmouse



Category: due South
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-07-25
Updated: 2007-07-25
Packaged: 2017-10-10 13:04:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/100080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pocketmouse/pseuds/pocketmouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just stay out of the way, and watch the one-man show.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Man Show

_It is a relatively calm day at Chicago's 27th precinct. The winter weather has decided to be clement today, and the sun is shining warmly, melting the inches of snow deposited earlier in the week. But the placid atmosphere does not continue into the bullpen, and as shift change approaches, the people in this building know that things are about to get a lot more hectic, as the lone-wolf problem child of the department comes in to work._

_Whispers in the break room say he used to be handleable, though they never say he used to be normal. Newcomers ask why he isn't gone, or why Welsh has not moved him to a slower shift, punish him for going off half-cocked by giving him rookie cases. The old hands just shrug, saying he still gets the work done. Besides, Welsh has always had a soft spot for this detective – he is looking out for him. Just stay out of the way, and watch the one-man show._

***

"Hey, Frannie, you seen Fraser yet?" Ray has taken advantage of the warm turn of the weather and shed his coat in the car, but as always it feels a little chilly in the station, and he is glad of the sweater he wore underneath. He doesn't bother to sit down, just rifles through the papers on his desk, sliding a manila folder out from under a stack of typewritten forms and yellow sheets of triplicate. He grabs the papers he needs and tosses the rest of the file back on the desk without looking. The pile slides precariously, almost falling to the ground.

"No, Ray," she says, and it's almost a sigh. She looks tired. Ray thinks that Frannie's been looking tired lately, but it's not for him to say – she's probably just mad at Fraser for some reason. They've been ignoring each other recently. He wouldn't think anything of it, but it's making Fraser nervous too, and they usually scram as soon as he shows up. The downside, though, is that Frase isn't helping out with the reports any more. "Here, I got everything all together for you for the MacCarville arrest. Just sign where it says." Frannie's been getting better at it, though.

"Yeah, thanks, Frannie." Ray signs automatically and hands it back off, because he sees Fraser in the corridor, making his way in. "Gotta go." He purposefully keeps his eyes on Fraser, and away from Welsh's office as he crosses the bullpen.

"Hello, Ray." Fraser does his little head-nod thing, which is the equivalent to a tip of the hat for someone who has apparently lost their hat and is unable to requisition a new one. A complicated story, Ray has been told, involving Turnbull's inability to requisition the forms to requisition a new hat, due to the lack of requisition forms. Ray made a M*A*S*H joke the first time Fraser showed up without the hat, but by now it's been almost a month and he just doesn't have the heart.

"Hey, Frase." He pushes open the door, and Diefenbaker jumps up to greet him. "Hey, Dief." One of the new detectives, Sinclair, is apparently allergic to dogs, so Dief doesn't come inside any more.

***

Ray leans back in his chair, trying to ignore the crackling in his spine. He sighs, and puts the cold towel back against his eye socket.

"Ray, let me see."

"I'm good, Frase," he mutters, eyes firmly closed.

"It's bleeding again, isn't it?" Ray is slowly shaking his head, trying to ignore the Mountie's presence, coming closer. "You really should –"

"Dammit, Fraser, lay off!" He wants to stand up and pace, but there's not enough room, and he'd have to get around Fraser, and his knees are really starting to ache. Instead he just opens his eyes again, and leans upward in the chair. "I don't need some of your – whatever smelly shit, I don't need a trip to the vet," he snarls. "I need you to lay the fuck off my case!"

Well, he hasn't quite made it to standing, but he has made it to roaring, and now pretty much everyone in the bullpen is staring at him. In the back of his head Ray is waiting for the crickets, or the tumbleweed.

"Uh…" Huey clears his throat. "It doesn't really look that bad, Fraser. Dewey and I can give him a lift home if he needs it." Ray manages to grumble out something akin to a 'thanks,' and Fraser nods his appreciation as well. Huey turns away, and the bullpen starts to settle back to normal. One of the new detectives gives out a muffled yelp when Dewey kicks him in the shin.

***

Lieutenant Welsh isn't a patient man by nature. It's something he's had to come by after long years of practice. Some days it feels like all of those years have been in the last few months.

"I'm tellin' you, Kowalski, you already got one serious crack to the noggin, the department doesn't look favorably on your apparent desire to gain another. You're just lucky you passed your last psych review."

Kowalski just shakes his head, standing in front of the desk, arms crossed, stamping his feet like a skittish horse. "I told you, sir, I got Fraser. That's enough."

But Welsh also knows his men, even if they aren't all there, and he'll take what openings he can get. "I know the Constable has made his own remarks concerning your hazardous approach to –"

His detective whirls around, stabbing two fingers accusingly at the empty air behind him. "Shut up, Fraser. I don't wanna hear no apologies. Just shut up for right now."

And who is Welsh to say if the blinds seem to flip closed of their own accord when Ray turns around? He's just the man who signs off on the reports – reports full of luck, coincidence, and happenstance. Nothing to indicate need for a new partner yet.

Ray Kowalski's got more than one soul looking out for him.


End file.
